How Aclara Plans to Build a Rare Earth Supply Chain Without China by 2028

[addtoany]

In a move to offset China’s monopoly on rare earth metals and export restrictions, Aclara Resources plans to commission upstream and downstream sites in the Americas by 2028 to produce those critical minerals.

More specifically, the Toronto-listed company primarily aims to produce the heavy rare earths dysprosium and terbium (DyTb), as well as the light rare earths neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr), for magnet production.

China currently controls 95-99% of global heavy rare earth processing and 94% of permanent magnet production, according to various reports.

“Outside of China, there are not a lot of options for mines that are producing heavy rare earths,” Alonso Guzman, CFO of subsidiary company Aclara Technologies, told MetalMiner.

Aclara plans to begin its upstream operations in mid-2028 in South America by mining heavy and light rare earths from two sites – Carina in Brazil and the Penco Module in Chile – while also commissioning a downstream separation plant in the United States, Guzman said.

Adjacent to that facility, the company also plans to build a downstream metallization plant, due to come online by late 2028, to convert the separated oxides into metals and alloys, Guzman noted.

Rare Earth Metals: Planned Production

“The two mines will each produce 1 metric ton of more than 99% pure carbonate from 1,000 metric tons of ionic clays at on-site concentration facilities,” Guzman said.

“From those assets, the company wants to produce 170 metric tons per year of DyTb,” Guzman went on.

“You have this magnet that will lose its properties when exposed to high temperatures,” he said.

Adding 2-4% of either of the two heavy rare earths helps prevent magnetism loss.

Some finished products require terbium and dysprosium together, while others require only one of the two, depending on end-user requirements, Guzman said.

The company also plans to produce another 1,100 metric tons per year of NdPr from the clays, which are used in the production of the actual magnets, Guzman noted.

In addition to DyTb and NdPr from the ionic clays, Aclara also plans to produce yttrium at Vinton.

Heavy rare earths have applications in electronic displays, manufacturing lasers, dental ceramics, and certain medical treatments.

Project Sites

Carina, Brazil

The Carina mine, which Aclara acquired in 2023, has measured and indicated mineral resources of 261 million metric tons, according to National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, the company stated in its April feasibility study.

The site is located in Brazil’s central Goiás state and has an estimated mine life of 18 years, Guzman said.

The study also highlighted average annual production of 4,378 metric tons of rare earth oxides (REO) contained in a mixed rare earth concentrate product with high concentrations of dysprosium and terbium and neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr), respectively accounting for 4.2% and 27.2%.

“Carina’s future production of DyTb is equivalent to approximately 11.8% of China’s estimated 2024 DyTb production,” the study stated.

Penco Module, Chile

The Penco Module, located in Chile’s Biobío Region, had measured and indicated resources of 27.5 million metric tons as of October 2022, according to Aclara.

Vinton, Louisiana

Also due to begin operations in 2028 is Aclara’s separation plant in Vinton, southwestern Louisiana.

The separation plant carries a $277 million price tag, according to information from the Louisiana state government.

“They supported the project with a $46 million incentive package, including tax incentives,” Guzman noted.

Although Aclara has not yet finalized the logistics for transporting carbonate from its mining assets to the United States, Guzman said the cargo would primarily move by sea.

Vinton has port facilities connected to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, an inland coastal waterway system running along the Gulf of Mexico.

The site is also 30-40 kilometers (18-25 miles) from the Sabine Pass-Port Arthur port complex on the Gulf of Mexico.

Guzman declined to indicate when the separation plant would ramp up to capacity, although he expects the site to achieve full capacity shortly after commissioning.

Technology Development

Aclara is also working with at least two institutions in the United States to develop its separation technology.

The company began operating a mini separation plant at Virginia Tech after construction began in October and is also collaborating with Illinois-based Argonne National Laboratory.

Argonne is part of the Department of Energy, where the world’s first sustained nuclear chain reaction occurred at Chicago Pile-1.

“They will have two years’ worth of data, so they will be able to ramp up pretty easily,” Guzman told MetalMiner.

Aclara Company Background

Aclara’s origins trace back to 2018, when Hochschild Mining acquired Chilean company BioLantánido, which was developing the Penco Module at the time.

While Hochschild’s initial focus was precious metals, the company was also exploring metals for the future and identified rare earths as an opportunity.

After taking full control of BioLantánido in 2019, Hochschild spun the company off as Aclara in 2021 and listed it on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

New Hartsdale Capital, which is indirectly owned by Hochschild Mining Chairman Eduardo Hochschild, is the company’s largest shareholder with a 36.1% stake, according to Aclara information as of March 2026.

Hochschild Mining retains another 19.2% stake, while Chilean industrial group CAP owns 10%.

End Users and Supply Chains

Aclara is now in talks with end users in the United States and Japan that manufacture components for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including companies in the automotive and white goods sectors, Guzman said.

Those end users have also included military contractors, he confirmed.

China’s Export Restrictions

China originally introduced two waves of export restrictions on rare earths in April and October 2025, according to various reports.

The first wave, announced on April 4, 2025, targeted heavy rare earths and permanent magnets and required companies to secure special export licenses before shipping the minerals and magnets, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS).

Besides terbium and dysprosium, the restrictions also covered samarium, gadolinium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium.

“Just weeks later, the auto industry in the United States, Europe, and Japan reported supply disruptions that threatened to bring domestic manufacturing to a halt. The Trump administration swiftly mobilized to negotiate a 90-day truce to restart exports,” the CSIS report dated April 27, 2026, stated.

A November 2025 report by the European Parliament also noted that exporters were required to provide information on end users, although some considered that information commercially sensitive.

“The licensing process is considered by many exporters to be opaque, selective, and intentionally slow,” the European Parliament report stated.

China then imposed more stringent restrictions in October as the original 90-day truce was coming to an end.

“The expanded restrictions included a new strict foreign direct product rule, preventing the sale of foreign-made products containing even trace amounts of Chinese-sourced rare earth materials without Chinese government approval,” the CSIS report stated.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping reached an agreement to suspend the export restrictions for one year at the end of that month, CSIS also noted.

“However, the rare earth supply chain will remain exposed to geopolitical disruption until the United States and its allies build fully integrated, mine-to-magnet supply chains outside of China,” CSIS stated.

“Building this capacity from the ground up will take years, not months, and require strong political will, large amounts of capital, and allied coordination,” the report concluded.